Copenhagen

The greatest tragedy to come out of Denmark since Hamlet?

The world awaits consensus on Climate Change and positive, achievable goals which will inspire sustainable change and save us from significant future harm. 

Whether this can be delivered by the debates and demonstrations at the Copenhagen Summit remains to be seen.  But there is plenty that can be attempted nearer to home... 

For those who are willing to delve into the subject, an interesting report with positive suggestions for reducing Carbon Emissions in Malta was generated by the Today Public Policy Institute (authored by Dr George Debono and published here with permission of the TPPI thinktank).  It is available for download here.

It may be interesting to compare transport initiatives in Malta with those of Britain although the scale and challenges are very different.  Some of the research done by the charity SUSTRANS may have resonance here; they suggest that the number of shoppers - in places such as Sliema - rises as traffic is reduced.  This is probably counter-intuitive to the businesses of the area, but very relevant to future planning decisions - checkout their findings.

The Sliema Residents Association believes that the time has come for decisive and different action to be taken - to curb further expansion of traffic locally, to reign in emissions and air pollution via effective monitoring and controls, to change cultural perceptions of cars as status symbols, to provide public transport that is clean and reliable...

Think Global, Act Local - and Act Now!